What is best date to hold 1st year player draft during the year so players appear in minors same year they first played in minors?

So far I've tried holding drafts in June and find many players end up being drafted a year or more earlier than they were in real life.

I have box checked for "Automatically Import Historical Rookies". Should I not check this box?

The way it's set up is the way you're supposed to do it. Let's say a player was a rookie IRL in 1985. He will come in in the draft on December 15th, 1984 and thus be available for you exactly when you want him. If you move the draft to June, I would imagine you'll get what you're seeing, players coming in a year before. Make it December 15th, and yes they will be coming in a few months early, but at least they won't play before they should.

I've been trying different numbers like 25 and even as high as 40 once. My preference is to only use real players with no fictional, but don't mind using fictional if necessary to fill out minor league rosters with fictional players unable to reach Majors.

I've been leaving box unchecked for "Allow incomplete minor league rosters (ghost players). Does that mean fictional players are created as needed to fill rosters?

I've been trying different numbers like 25 and even as high as 40 once. My preference is to only use real players with no fictional, but don't mind using fictional if necessary to fill out minor league rosters with fictional players unable to reach Majors.

I've been leaving box unchecked for "Allow incomplete minor league rosters (ghost players). Does that mean fictional players are created as needed to fill rosters?

I'm not sure on the answer to this, as I play random debut historicals, which are an entirely different kettle of fish. For one thing, you get 44 players per team to start the game regardless of what year you start in. Because of this I use a five round draft, and in expansion years I bring in enough players for six rounds, but otherwise it's five. If you're using full minors that won't be enough. I use unlimited reserve rosters, so I'm probably not the best person to help you here, but at least I can bump your thread.

I'm not sure on the answer to this, as I play random debut historicals, which are an entirely different kettle of fish. For one thing, you get 44 players per team to start the game regardless of what year you start in. Because of this I use a five round draft, and in expansion years I bring in enough players for six rounds, but otherwise it's five. If you're using full minors that won't be enough. I use unlimited reserve rosters, so I'm probably not the best person to help you here, but at least I can bump your thread.

After year 1 i tend to use 8-10 then decrease it down to 5 after that. I dont think I have ever had 44 players on my team year 1 but I could be wrong.

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After year 1 i tend to use 8-10 then decrease it down to 5 after that. I dont think I have ever had 44 players on my team year 1 but I could be wrong.

If it's random debut, there are always 44 players per team. So a 16-team league always starts with 704 players in the Inaugural Draft. For this reason, you have to make the Inaugural Draft 44 rounds, instead of the default 27, but that's easy enough to do if you remember to do it. If you don't remember to do it, 272 players get dumped into free agency, and the teams will most likely wind up with a different amount of players on each team.

If it's random debut, there are always 44 players per team. So a 16-team league always starts with 704 players in the Inaugural Draft. For this reason, you have to make the Inaugural Draft 44 rounds, instead of the default 27, but that's easy enough to do if you remember to do it. If you don't remember to do it, 272 players get dumped into free agency, and the teams will most likely wind up with a different amount of players on each team.

Yeah i always change it to 40. Usually the remainder arent worth going after.

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There were 775 players selected in the actual (real life) 1977 1st year player draft. It lasted 42 rounds with not all teams drafting a player by about RD 25 and only 1 team (STL) drafting a player in RD 39, 40, 41, and 42.

There were 775 players selected in the actual (real life) 1977 1st year player draft. It lasted 42 rounds with not all teams drafting a player by about RD 25 and only 1 team (STL) drafting a player in RD 39, 40, 41, and 42.

So I'm wondering ...
1) if these same 775 players will be available in the OTTP 1977 draft (held DEC 15)?

2) if draft is 25 rounds (400 players if all 26 teams draft someone each round), will the 125 historical players not drafted become available as free agents?

3) If draft is, say 50 rounds (800 players) will computer generate an additional 25 players to complete the draft or will draft end once 775th player is selected?

Because I don't mix in minor leaguers, I'm not able to answer most of this. However I can tell you that the draft will end once the last player in the draft pool is selected regardless of where in the draft you are.

There were 775 players selected in the actual (real life) 1977 1st year player draft. It lasted 42 rounds with not all teams drafting a player by about RD 25 and only 1 team (STL) drafting a player in RD 39, 40, 41, and 42.

So I'm wondering ...
1) if these same 775 players will be available in the OTTP 1977 draft (held DEC 15)?

2) if draft is 25 rounds (400 players if all 26 teams draft someone each round), will the 125 historical players not drafted become available as free agents?

3) If draft is, say 50 rounds (800 players) will computer generate an additional 25 players to complete the draft or will draft end once 775th player is selected?

Minor leaguers are not available in RD only MLers. so No for #1. What AJ said for the other 2.
I dont think even if you played historical MLB that all of the 775 players drafted in 1977 would be available.

__________________
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I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

Action Jackson, thanks for your generous dharing of knowledge. I also usually play RD.I have noticed that unless I set the parameters for what years players are from very strictly, say 1940-1960, i don't get many players i would call regulars or full time. I prefer 1901-2017 or no min. Or max. But end up with maybe 4-5 catchers with 300 plus PA, hardly any real first basemen except ones with maybe 100 AB in that current year of theirs etc. Is this by design or is it maybe because i am not setting the 44 full draft rounds so a lot of the decent players are missing? I assume that a players fatigue and injury levels are based on PA and IP. So a starter with low numbers shoyld be a surprise exception. Not the rule. Am I misunderstanding the game? Thanks.

Action Jackson, thanks for your generous dharing of knowledge. I also usually play RD.I have noticed that unless I set the parameters for what years players are from very strictly, say 1940-1960, i don't get many players i would call regulars or full time. I prefer 1901-2017 or no min. Or max. But end up with maybe 4-5 catchers with 300 plus PA, hardly any real first basemen except ones with maybe 100 AB in that current year of theirs etc. Is this by design or is it maybe because i am not setting the 44 full draft rounds so a lot of the decent players are missing? I assume that a players fatigue and injury levels are based on PA and IP. So a starter with low numbers shoyld be a surprise exception. Not the rule. Am I misunderstanding the game? Thanks.

You always have to reset the inaugural draft to 44 rounds prior to drafting (I think default is 27) with random debut in order to have all players drafted to a team. Otherwise, you'll get 17 rounds worth of potential draftees dumped into the free agent pile, and that allows for the wealthier teams to pick off the better ones as free agents.

As for the full-time/regulars thing, if you think about it, there are probably more part-time players than full-time players in the database, particularly modern day players. This is just a fact of life. It doesn't mean that guys who played part-time IRL can't emerge as full-time players, just that they weren't IRL.

Another thing is, if you play with the "Use pre-defined draft value for AI" box checked for amateur drafts, you should probably uncheck it for both the inaugural and expansion drafts. This will (hopefully) stop all-time greats from being drafted at a past their prime age in both the inaugural and expansion drafts. Be sure to re-check that box for the amateur draft if you use it though.

At least early on, inaugural drafts for me, at least, without minors, are 27 rounds in length. Then again, I've never started later than 1901, if I remember correctly here. I think the default number of rounds for an inaugural draft is 27, but of course I could be wrong about that. CD out.

Minor leaguers are not available in RD only MLers. so No for #1. What AJ said for the other 2.
I dont think even if you played historical MLB that all of the 775 players drafted in 1977 would be available.

Minor leaguers are sure available if one play with full minors, every player that made his debut in minors or majors in the upcoming year will be in that draft pool (if set in December, if set in June they will be ready a half year ahead of the time they made their first game, the year before so to say).

I found out that players that in RL was drafted the same year not truly pop up in the same draft pool in the game. The reason is that some player drafted in June in RL did played that year so they will be in your December pool the year before. Then the players who held out the same draft year will come in the December pool next year. The key is the first game they ever played as a pro.

It was kind of confusing how the position of the draft date influenced when players appear in the draft pool. I normally played Histo game with players just joining auto the year they made their pro-debut in just that team, but missed out on the fun of drafting.

So the issue with 770 players in that draft pool mentioned, isn't a sure yes or no. Whoever played the same year as drafted will be in the pool, the other will not pop up until they made their pro debut. Meaning HS draftees could pop up several years later. There is a lot of those for sure.

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